They don't come with a manual

Maybe it's just me, and maybe I'm really dumb, but did anyone else not know what the hell <3 meant the first time they saw it? I assume it means "heart" or "love," but does it look like other things to anyone else?

The very first time I saw this, I honestly thought it was balls, so I thought that it meant "teabag." Therefore I thought there was this new lingo going around, doting on the greatness of teabaggin. This new term would be the new/replace such standards as "slammin" or "sweet." I thought to myself, "wow times have really changed but i'll accept this I guess." I was totally ready to start using the terminology teabaggin' as a form of affection. "Wow, I laughed so hard at that comedian, that guy was teabaggin' tonight."

It also looks like a double scoop ice cream cone to me, which is a truly delicious good thing. I'm fully ready to start adding "like Ice cream" to any positive comment. For example, "Dude, you're coat is really sweet...like Ice Cream" or "wow, that joe sure is cool...like Ice Cream." "These shoes make my feet hurt...like Ice Cream." (That last one is for all you mascochists out there. I hope the one other person that reads this is a mascochist, and doesn't know how to spell that word correctly.)
I guess this musing is less about my misinterpretation of symbols, and more about my easily swayed use of current linguistic trends. I think it's pretty teabaggin' that I recongized it for what it was...like Ice Cream.